Fluid transfer device

ABSTRACT

A device for transferring two or more different liquids from a bulk supply to a tank truck having a compartment for each liquid. The device includes two or more loading booms, each pivoted at one end for both horizontal and vertical swinging motion. Each boom carries a delivery conduit and a dispensing head for a given liquid. The booms are pivoted at different vertical heights so that one may swing horizontally over the other as necessary for registering any dispensing head with the filler opening for any compartment in the truck. The booms and delivery conduits carried thereby are in telescopic sections so as to be extendible and power operation is provided for extension, horizontal swinging and vertical swinging of each boom. Means is also provided for recovering vapor displaced from the tank truck. The dispensing head is spring loaded into tight sealing engagement with the tank filler opening.

United States Patent Swindler 51 July 25, 1972 Parker-HannifinCorporation, Cleveland, Ohio [22] Filed: March 24, 1970 [21] Appl.No.:22,201

[72] Inventor:

[73] Assignee:

' [52] U.S.Cl ..l4l/387, 137/615 [51] Int. Cl ..B67d 5/00 [58] FieldofSearch ..l37/273-279, 615-6167;

141/284, 383, 387, 388; 239/165, 166; 212/55; .285/184, DIG. 13

Primary Examiner-Edward J. Earls Attorney-John N. Wolfram 57 ABSTRACT Adevice for transferring two or more different liquids from a bulk supplyto a tank truck having a compartment for each liquid. The deviceincludes two or more loading booms, each .pivoted at one end for bothhorizontal and vertical swinging motion. Each boom carries a deliveryconduit and a dispensing head for a given liquid. The booms are pivotedat different vertical heights so that one may swing horizontally overthe other as necessary for registering any dispensing head with thefiller opening for any compartment in the truck. The booms and deliveryconduits carried thereby are in telescopic sections so as to beextendible and power operation is provided for extension, horizontalswinging and vertical swinging of each boom. Means is also provided forrecovering vapor displaced from the tank truck. The dispensing head isspring loaded into tight sealing engagement with the tank filleropening.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented July 25, 1972 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR HENRY A. SWINDLER ATTORNEY Patented July 25, 1972 I 3,678,972

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig 4 INVENTOR HENRY A. SWINDLER BY ATTORNEY PatentedJuly 25, 1972 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ww mbnm mmvm mm mhmhmmvm INVENTOR HENRYA. WINDLER ATTORNEY FLUID TRANSFER DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBulk stations for filling tank trucks with gasoline usually carry dieseloil and several grades of gasoline and many tank trucks have two or morecompartments for receiving such different liquids. The bulk stationusually has overhead delivery conduits projecting side by side from asupporting structure and swivelled for vertical and horizontal pivotingmovement to permit the dispensing heads on the conduits to be positionedwithin the compartment filler openings. When a truck pulls up to aloading platform, the compartments for the different liquids may or maynot be opposite the delivery conduit having the same liquid. If thecompartments are opposite the proper conduit, the conduits may bepositioned for simultaneously filling the corresponding compartmentwithout interference. However, when the compartments are not oppositethe proper delivery conduit, the conduits cannot be crossed for reachingthe proper compartment because they are pivoted at the same verticalheight and only one compartment at a time may be filled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention mounts theside-by-side overhead delivery conduits at different vertical heights sothat each delivery conduit may swing horizontally across the others toreach any desired compartment of the tank truck. This is accomplished byproviding vertical spacers of different lengths on the supportingstructure so that the connection of the conduits, and their supportingboom structure, are vertically spaced from each other at the supportstructure.

Each delivery conduit is supported by a boom which also carries a vaporrecovery conduit. The conduits and the boom have telescoping sectionsand power operation is provided for vertical, horizontal and telescopingmovement of the boom and conduits. Each boom carries a dispensing headwith passages connecting separately with the delivery and vapor recoveryconduits. A spring maintains the dispensing head in sealed contact withthe compartment filler opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a view looking down on atank truck at a loading platform.

FIG. 2 is a side view of three loading booms at one loading station.

FIG. 3 is an end view of the three loading booms shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a side view of one loading boom showing the swivel mountingpartly in cross section and the dispensing head.

FIG. 5 is a top view of one loading boom.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section view of the packing arrangement for thetelescoped vapor recovery conduits.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary section view of the packing arrangement for thetelescoped delivery conduits.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A bulk depot may have a loading station 10 next towhich a tank truck 11 may be positioned for being filled. The truck mayhave three compartments, l5, l6 and 17, each with its own filler openingl2, l3 and 14. The loading station may have a support structure 18 towhich three supply conduits 19, 20 and 21 are fixedly secured by flanges20. The supply conduits are connected to a respective pump P fordelivering a particular liquid thereto from underground storage tanks,not shown.

The supply conduits are connected to respective flange fittings 23, 24and 25 to which a respective swivel assembly 28, 29 or 30 is attached.Swivel assembly 28 is attached directly to flange fitting 23 whileassemblies 29 and 30 are attached to flanges 24, 25 via intermediatespacer conduits 31 and 32.

Each swivel assembly includes a sleeve 33 rigidly and nonrotatablyattached to the respective flange 23 or spacer 31, 32. As shown in FIG.4, each sleeve 33 has a semi-circular gear segment 34 welded thereto andis within a tubular housing '36 that is rotatable thereon. Gear segment34 meshes with gear 38 keyed to a shaft 39 which in turn is keyed to agear 40. The latter meshes with a gear on the output shaft of areversible rotary hydraulic motor 41. Bumper 42 fixed to housing 36engages radial surfaces 34' on diametrically opposite sides of gearsegment 34 to limit rotation of housing 36 in either direction on sleeve33.

The upper end of housing 36 is rigidly and non-rotatably attached to anelbow fitting 43 that is sealed relative to sleeve 33 by packing 44 andhas its upper end mounted within one end of a U-shaped swivel fitting 45rotatable thereon. The other end of swivel 45 is rigidly attached to anelbow fitting 46. The latter carries a spring closed swing check element47, as shown in FIG. 5.

Each swivel assembly 28, 29 and 30 is connected to a, respective boomassembly 48, 49 and 50. The boom assemblies are identical and each has atelescoping frame structure comprising a pair of frame rails 53, 54 ofhollow rectangular cross section and having mounted therein extenderrails 55, 56 also of hollow rectangular cross section. A series ofrollers 57 support the extender rails 55, 56 for telescopic movementwithin frame rails 53, 54. Frame rails 53, 54 are joined by a plate 58bolted thereto and which carries an anchor block 59. A bolt 60 isslidably mounted within the anchor block and has a head 61 at one end towhich a cylinder rod 62 is attached by means of pin 63. The other end ofbolt 60 projects from anchor block 59 and has a heavy spring 63 securedthereon by a nut 64. A setscrew 65 projects into an elongated slot 60'in bolt 60 to keep the latter from rotating.

Piston rod 62 is part of a fluid motor 66 that is pinned to a pair ofbrackets 67 rigidly attached to swivel housing 36.

The outer ends of extender rails 55, 56 are rigidly attached to brackets68, 69 that are attached to the upper housing 71 of dispensing head 72.I

A telescopic delivery conduit 73 has a radially outer section 74connected to elbow 46 and has a radially inner section 75 slidablewithin and sealed relative to outer conduit 74 by a packing assembly 76,shown in FIG. 7. Inner delivery conduit 75 is welded to a flange 70 thatis bolted to housing 71 and communicates with passage 77 therein.

A vapor recovery conduit 80 has a radially outer section 81 connected toan elbow fitting 82 that is rigidly attached to frame rail 53 by screws83 passing thru a lug on the elbow fitting and which connects to aflexible hose 84 that leads to a vapor storage chamber, not shown. Vaporrecovery conduit 80 includes a radially inner conduit 86 telescopedwithin radially outer conduit 81 and sealed relative thereto by packingassembly 87, shown in FIG. 6. Inner vapor conduit 86 is welded to flange76 and communicates with passage 87 in dispenser head housing 71.

An electrical conduit 90 has a radially outer section 91 slipped intoboss 92 on elbow fitting 46 and retained therein by a setscrew 89. Boss92 communicates with an exterior opening 93 and is not in communicationwith the interior of elbow 46.

Mounted telescopically within outer section 91 is a radially innerelectrical conduit 94 that is rigidly connected to flange 76. A coiledelectrical cord 95 passes through conduit 90 and exits at one endthrough opening 93 and passes through flange 76 into an elbow fitting 97and passes into head assembly 72 where it connects with a float operatedswitch, not shown, which opens to shutofl delivery pump P when the tankcompartment is full.

A hydraulic extending cylinder 100 is pinned at one end to a pair ofbrackets 101 on swivel housing 36 and has its piston rod 102 secured toflange 76 by a nut 103. One end of cylinder 100 is connected by means ofa bracket 104 and bolts 105 to frame rail 54.

Hydraulic control valves 110, 111 and 112 are respectively connected tomotor- 41 by lines 113, 114, to cylinder 66 by lines 115, 116, andcylinder 100 by lines 117, 118. The valves are supplied with hydraulicfluid by a pump 121 and'reservoir 122. There is a return line 123 fromthe valves to the reservoir. There is a separate set of such valves foreach boom assembly. As shown in FIG. 4, the flow arrangement for eachset of valves is such that all the valves in the set may be operatedeither separately or simultaneously with either or both the othervalves.

In operation, each boom assembly 48, 49, 50 may have its respectivesupply conduit 19, 20 and 21 connected to supplies of differing liquids.When a tank truck 11 is moved into position next to loading station itmay be that compartment 15 is to receive the liquid dispensed by loadingboom 50, compartment 16 the liquid dispensed by loading boom 48, andcompartment 17 by liquid dispensed from loading boom 49. In such case,the corresponding valve 110 is manipulated for operating rotary motor 41to turn gear 40 which causes gear 38 to turn on gear segment 34 and thusrotate swivel housing 36 on sleeve 33 to swing boom 48 horizontallyuntil it is directed toward filler opening 13. At the same time, orseparately, valves 111 and 112 are manipulated for operating extendingcylinder. 110 to position the dispense head 72 on boom 48 over filleropening 13 and to operate cylinder 66 to lower dispensing head 72 intosealed contact with filler opening 13.

Valves 110, 111 and 112 are spring returned to neutral when released bythe operator. In neutral, each valve connects opposite sides of therespective motor or cylinder to return line 123. When cylinder 66 lowersits boom so that the corresponding head 72 is pressed against a tankfiller opening, bolt 60 moves rightwardly within block 69 to compressspring 63 as shown in FIG. 4. Upon release of valve 1 12 by the operatorand its return to neutral load lock valve 119 locks piston 62 in the setposition. The compressed spring 63 then maintains seating pressure onhead 72 against the tank opening to ing a fluid pressure motorpivotallyattached at one end to said allow for settling of the tank truck whenthe load on the truck springs increases as the tank is being filled.

The corresponding valves 110, 111 and 112 for booms 49 and 50 aresimilarly manipulated to place the dispenser head 72 thereon into sealedengagement with filler openings 14 and 12. Because of the verticalspacing of booms 48, 49 and 50 by means of spacer conduits 31 and 32,the booms may cross over each other as shown in FIG. 1 withoutinterference. To disengage the dispenser head from the tank truck and toreturn the booms to raised, retracted and straight out positions, thecorresponding valves 110, 111 and 112 are manipulated for reversing theflow of hydraulic fluid to the respective cylinders and rotary hydraulicmotor.

When cylinder 100 is operated for extending piston rod 102, the latter,because of its connection to flange 76, moves the correspondingdispenser head 72 in a direction away from the corresponding swivelhousing 36. This causes the corresponding extender rails 55, 56 to movetelescopically outwardly of corresponding frame rails 53, 54 andlikewise causes the corresponding inner delivery conduit 75, inner vaporconduit 86 and inner electrical conduit 94 to move telescopicallyoutwardly of the respective outer delivery conduit 74, outer vaporconduit 81 and outer electrical conduit 91.

I claim:

1. A tank filling device comprising a support means, a loading boomassembly connected at one end to the support means, the boom assemblyincluding a support'frame and a delivery conduit, the delivery conduitcomprising a pair of telescoped tubular sections, one of said sectionsbeing secured support meansand attached at its other end to the other ofsaid tubular sections, said support frame including a pair of telescopedsections, said one tubular section being secured to one of said framesections and the other tubular section being secured to the other ofsaid frame sections whereby said frame sections undergo axial movementrelative to each other coincident with the relative axial movement ofthe tubular sections.

2. A loading device comprising a boom assembly pivoted at one end to asupport and having a dispensing head at its other end, actuating meansoperable for lowering said other end to cause said dispensing head toseat against a filler opening of a tank, yieldable means engaging theactuating means and movable thereby to an energy storing position whensaid dispensing head engages the filler opening to stop the loweringmotion of the boom assembly, means to lock the actuating means in afixed position upon discontinuance of operation of the same, saidyieldable means engaging the boom assembly to cause the latter tomaintain a seating pressure of the dispensing head against the filleropening. I

3. The device of claim 2 in which said actuating means comprises ahydraulic cylinder.

4. The device of claim 3 in which said cylinder includes a piston, saidyieldable means includes a bolt slidably mounted on said boom and aspring engaging one end of the bolt to urge it in one direction and alsoengaging said boom to urge the boom in a lowering direction, the otherend of the bolt being connected to the piston and also being engageablewith the boom assembly to urge the latter in a raising direction.

5. The device of claim 2 in which said yieldable means is extensible tomove the boom assembly and the dispensing head to a lower position inthe event said filler opening assumes a lower position after operationof said actuating means is discontinued and thereby to maintain thedispensing head seated against the filler opening.

6. A tank filling device comprising first and second verticallyextending stationary fluid supply pipes, a first stationary fittingrigidly connected to the upper end of the first pipe and a secondstationary fitting being rigidly connected to the upper end of thesecond pipe, said fittings being in substantially the same horizontalplane, first and second generally horizontally extending deliveryconduits, a support frame attached to each delivery conduit andextending axially therealong for substantially the full length of therespective delivery conduit, a first swivel means connected to one endof the first delivery conduit and directly connected to the firstfitting to permit pivoted horizontal movement of the first deliveryconduit relative to the first supply pipe, a second swivel meansconnected to one end of the second conduit, a spacer conduit rigidlyconnected to the second fitting and projecting upwardly therefrom, saidsecond swivel means being connected to the upper end of the spacerconduit to permit pivotal horizontal movement of the second deliveryconduit and its support frame relative to the second supply pipe, saidframes and delivery conduits each being formed of sections axiallymoveable relative to each other, hydraulic motor means connected to therespective first and second swivel means and to the respective first andsecond conduits for moving said sections axially relative to each other,said spacer conduit being of sufficient lengthvwhereby the seconddelivery conduit and its support frame when pivoting horizontally maypass over the first delivery conduit and its support frame.

1. A tank filling device comprising a support means, a loading boomassembly connected at one end to the support means, the boom assemblyincluding a support frame and a delivery conduit, the delivery conduitcomprising a pair of telescoped tubular sections, one of said sectionsbeing secured to said support frame, means for moving the telescopedtubular sections axially of each other, said moving means comprising afluid pressure motor pivotally attached at one end to said support meansand attached at its other end to the other of said tubular sections,said support frame including a pair of telescoped sections, said onetubular section being secured to one of said frame sections and theother tubular section being secured to the other of said frame sectionswhereby said frame sections undergo axial movement relative to eachother coincident with the relative axial movement of the tubularsections.
 2. A loading device comprising a boom assembly pivoted at oneend to a support and having a dispensing head at its other end,actuating means operable for lowering said other end to cause saiddispensing head to seat against a filler opening of a tank, yieldablemeans engaging the actuating means and movable thereby to an energystoring position when said dispensing head engages the filler opening tostop the lowering motion of the boom assembly, means to lock theactuating means in a fixed position upon discontinuance of operation ofthe same, said yieldable means engaging the boom assembly to cause thelatter to maintain a seating pressure of the dispensing head against thefiller opening.
 3. The device of claim 2 in which said actuating meanscomprises a hydraulic cylinder.
 4. The device of claim 3 in which saidcylinder includes a piston, said yieldable means includes a boltslidably mounted on said boom and a spring engaging one end of the boltto urge it in one direction and also engaging said boom to urge the boomin a lowering direction, the other end of the bolt being connected tothe piston and also being engageable with the boom assembly to urge thelatter in a raising direction.
 5. The device of claim 2 in which saidyieldable means is extensible to move the boom assembly and thedispensing head to a lower position in the event said filler openingassumes a lower position after operation of said actuating means isdiscontinued and thereby to maintain the dispensing head seated againstthe filler opening.
 6. A tank filling device comprising first and secondvertically extending stationary fluid supply pipes, a first stationaryfitting rigidly connected to the upper end of the first pipe and asecond stationary fitting being rigidly connected to the upper end ofthe second pipe, said fittings being in substantially the samehorizontal plane, first and second generally horizontally extendingdelivery conduits, a support frame attached to each delivery conduit andextending axially therealong for substantially the full length of therespective delivery conduit, a first swivel means connected to one endof the first delivery conduit and directly connected to the firstfitting to permit pivoted horizontal movement of the first deliveryconduit relative to the first supply pipe, a second swivel meansconnected to one end of the second conduit, a spacer conduit rigidlyconnected to the second fitting and projecting upwardly therefrom, saidsecond swivel means being connected to the upper end of the spAcerconduit to permit pivotal horizontal movement of the second deliveryconduit and its support frame relative to the second supply pipe, saidframes and delivery conduits each being formed of sections axiallymoveable relative to each other, hydraulic motor means connected to therespective first and second swivel means and to the respective first andsecond conduits for moving said sections axially relative to each other,said spacer conduit being of sufficient length whereby the seconddelivery conduit and its support frame when pivoting horizontally maypass over the first delivery conduit and its support frame.